# 70s Sesame Street shorts that freaked you out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769 "2002-10-11T03:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/141 "2016-10-28T02:37:55Z")
Can’t find it, but I remember some SS animation of a baby climbing a ladder to reach the top of a pillar. When he reaches the top the ladder falls away. _Now what’s he gonna do?_ He imagines himself jumping off the pillar, and also imagines broken-off pieces of body parts lying on the ground. :eek: **"HELP!"** All of a sudden, a giant clown gently lowers him to the ground, then fades away. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/142 "2016-10-28T10:30:47Z")
The video that freaked me out was the kid lost in a trippy, pseudo-“Yellow Submarine” land. Presumably the point is to teach kids about retracing their steps: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nqPcQeMEnFc/hqdefault.jpg "Sesame Street: Lost Boy Remembers His Way Home") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPcQeMEnFc) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/143 "2016-10-28T13:11:45Z")
I remember and loved all of these, and have bought DVDs of the early Sesame Street and Electric Company shows for my daughter. > [@scott\_evil](#): > > The weird-ass pinball machine. One two three FOUR FIVE six seven eight NINE TWELVE eleven TWEEEE-LLVE! Followed by a selected number and some pointless journey around an animated pinball machine. “Eight!” (Me: “Whoo! Eight!”) “Eight!” (Me: “Still eight?”) Then finished up with the ubiquitous “One two three FOUR FIVE six seven eign NINE TWELVE eleven TWEEEEL-VE!!!” Sung by the Pointer Sisters, IIRC. > [@Caprese](#): > > I was a teenager when Sesame first came to TV. Someone told me that Grace Slick was one of the ‘counters’ who did the one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-NINE-ten bit. I dunno. Indeed - it’s called something like “Jazz Counting” and it’s manic. The bit I remember is at the end where all the “spies” in trenchcoats reveal their numbers which all merge together. > [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](#): > > I always liked the early _Electric Company_ episodes- they were seriously trippy. Anybody remember “It’s a word, it’s a plan, it’s Letterman” > > Whoever put those shows together had to have been on some major hallucinogens. More famous voices - The Adventures of Letterman featured Gene Wilder as Letterman, Zero Mostel as Spell Binder and Joan Rivers as the narrator. > [@Hermione](#): > > Don Music. Loved him! > > “Oh, I’ll NEVER get it right!!! _ **NEVER!!!** _” (bangs head on piano) > > That was supposedly one of the reasons they got rid of him, aside from the passing of his puppeteer Richard Hunt–kids were imitating his (literal) head-banging behavior. I tried that once. Only once though. It hurts. _Mary had a bicycle Its paint was red as fire And whenever she wanted to take a ride The bicycle had a flat tire_ The only sketch that freaked me out was the Electric Company one with the sinister candy stalker: _Golly, this lollypop is following me And I really don’t know what to do You may think it’s silly To run willy-nilly When a lollypop follows you When a big yellow lollypop - golly! - follows you_ We don’t know why it was following her. We only know that at the end it catches her. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/144 "2016-10-28T13:41:37Z")
Didn’t have time to go through the entire thread this morning, so if this has been mentioned forgive me. First there was the problem of what to call the [show](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq1OsfPDcMA&t=22m10s). But the reason early seasons of SS were so weird is because Jim Henson didn’t start out doing childrens stuff and he had a dark and strange sense of humor. Check out some of these [Wilkins Coffee](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOKms5mlGEU) commercials he did. They were just 10 second blips that played between station identifications. Pretty out there when considering the era. He also did some stuff for [SNL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW_7omoDzPc). I was a little old for Sesame Street when it first came on, but I always loved [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5cuxG5KsIc). ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/145 "2016-10-28T15:53:06Z")
> [@Shockaholics](#): > > One that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Sam, a machine character that was on the show circa 1972. He looked like a Dalek. He creeped me out. > Also, he made a cameo in a Spider-Man comic book. I am not making this up. [![](https://boingboing.net/images/samthesesamestreetrobot.jpg) ](https://boingboing.net/images/samthesesamestreetrobot.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/146 "2016-10-29T07:30:56Z")
For a time, I tried to be a songwriter for _Sesame Street_. I had to stop because slamming my head down in frustration was bloodying the ivory. ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/147 "2016-10-31T12:35:06Z")
> [@Alphagene](#): > > Wow. Thanks for all the info guys. I have so little knowledge of this damn short because I wouldn’t stay in the room long enough. I think my nervous system developed a reflex arc that initiated a flight reflex automatically as soon as I saw that dark landscape and heard the first few notes of the damn theme. > > My mom told me that she actually called the PBS affiliate a few times telling them not to show the damn skit. I remember when Noggin showed old school Sesame Streets I’d wonder exactly how I would react to seeing that short two decades removed. I loved that! [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFIGX6EfSSc) it is! ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/148 "2016-10-31T14:02:57Z")
The only skit that really freaked me out as a kid was this one: [Kermit Talks About Feet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjIXRgjHpkM) I’m still not sure why but it was most likely that monstrous laugh at the end ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/149 "2016-10-31T18:38:46Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > The O and the E songs - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiytkIXTkAo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiytkIXTkAo) The “O” song was the one I came here to mention. For some reason I have had that song stuck in my head (meaning I still remember the words!) for the last…oh, 40 years or so. I barely remember anything else about Sesame Street except for that and the Mahna-Manha guys and “Rubber Duckie,” but I’m sure that song is stuck in my brain for the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/150 "2017-02-08T02:18:24Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > If we accept that The Electric Company is…well…Sesame Street _Plus_, then THIS: > > set me on edge. The two cat girls are just so...\*\*HEINIE-FUL!\*\* I was never alive to see the old Electric Company, but [these segments](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBROZFQ7vjY) from the 2009 revival freaked me out a bit as a kid. The blue dog is just creepy. I always wanted him to die. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/151 "2017-02-08T16:21:41Z")
Surprised [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4lIm7Ju2qM) hasn’t surfaced in the fourteen or so years this thread has existed. Something about the texture of that elevator shaft and the scream of that poor elevator operator plunging ten stories to his death just freaked toddler me right the hell out. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/152 "2017-02-08T17:36:18Z")
Can’t say that it freaked me out, but [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ5Y3TizswY) is pretty weird. What I do remember freaking me out as a kid was a plot element in a Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood episode, where in The Land of Make Believe there was a giant cow (purple?) that was approaching for some reason, and was visible on the horizon like a four-legged Godzilla. Anyone remember any details about that story arc? Looking back, [The Letter People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtnuCz91SBA) are pretty freaky, too. ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/153 "2017-04-12T14:05:10Z")
Go check out the Conflict arc, then. NUCLEAR WAR! ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769/154 "2017-11-09T02:35:39Z")
There was a ‘sequel’ of sorts to the Nobody sketch, this time he counted to four. Thankfully, he was offscreen, there were kids with him this time, and there was no ‘music’ at the beginning, nor anywhere in the skit, unlike last time. There were just sound effects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-sesame-street-shorts-that-freaked-you-out/131769.md?page=7)